My Take on How Many Pounds You Should Really Lose in 1 Week

My husband and I enjoy watching "The Biggest Loser" and other reality...

…weight-loss TV shows just as much as the next person. While these shows are inspiring, and that’s why we enjoy watching them, I am afraid they can be misleading to viewers about what realistic, healthy weight loss should look like.

On these shows, in just a series of weeks or months, contestants work with personal trainers and other specialists around the clock and lose mind-boggling amounts of weight. Research shows that healthy long-term weight loss is best achieved through losing 1/2-2lbs. per week, but many times coaches on these shows tell contestants that their goal should be a number that most often means that they would be losing 1/2-1 lb. per day! Likewise, it’s not unusual for contestants to drop 10 or more pounds in an average week and are crushed if they “only” lose 5lbs.

Now, I know these are TV shows where the contestants may be medically supervised and spend the amount of time working out that most of us spend at a full-time job, but that is my very point. It’s just not realistic. And not only that, it can also be dangerous. The extremely low-calorie diets that most often are used for this kind of fast weight loss do not contain enough nutrients and cause the body to go into ketosis. The body does burn stored fat during ketosis, but it can also change the pH of the blood, making it too acidic and causing it to corrode internal organs. A diet like this can also lead to bad breath, kidney stones, gallstones, low energy levels and irritability, not to mention fatigue. And an extreme diet and exercise program like this is hard to stick to. Even if someone can stick to it for a couple of weeks, or even a couple of months, the chances of them sticking to it for a lifetime are very slim, which increases the likelihood that they will regain the weight.

So if you are trying to lose weight, consult with a registered dietitian and do it in a healthy way- losing 1/2-2 lbs. per week by making small healthy changes to your diet and gradually adding in exercise. This might include being conscious of portion sizes, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, cutting back on empty calories and working out 5-6 days per week for about 1 hour. This would not include: cutting calories drastically (should have no less than 1200-1600 calories per day for women or 1800 for men), cutting out an entire food group when it isn’t medically necessary (like carbs or dairy), avoiding all your favorite foods, or exercising for several hours every day.

Remember, you have to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound. So, if you need to lose weight, each pound lost is an achievement! Don’t get discouraged if you aren’t losing the crazy big numbers you see on TV. A slow and steady weight loss is one that you can more easily maintain for years to come!

To jump start your weight loss in a healthy way, check out SELF’s Lose 8 plan, created by registered dietitians and personal trainers.